Kumar Sanu, Udit Narayan thrill Trinidad audience

By Paras Ramoutar Port of Spain, May 20 (IANS) Popular Indian singers Kumar Sanu and Udit Narayan had hundreds of people in Trinidad and Tobago swaying excitedly to Bollywood hits when they performed in San Fernando and Macoya. For more than 90 minutes Saturday, versatile and charismatic Sanu had the crowd at Skinner’s Park in San Fernando in a frenzy. The programme was held to mark Mother’s Day.

Trinidad and Tobago was Sanu’s penultimate stop on his current world tour. He has been out of India for almost a month, performing in New York, Washington and Georgetown (Guyana). His final show will be in Toronto May 24.

Indian singer Uparna Derrick also joined Sanu on stage. After the show, she said: “I was amazed by the energy that flowed from the Trinidad and Tobago audience. I will be back soon for more concerts.”

Trinidad and Tobago’s popular singer of Indian origin Indar Kanhai also performed with Sanu. When he came on stage, the audience cheered and jumped up to dance. Another local input came from the internationally recognised Clico Shiv Shakti Dance Group led by Michael Salickram.

The crowd at Narayan’s concert at the Centre of Excellence in Macoya, about 10 km from here, was thrilled when he crooned “Papa Kehte Hai” from the hit movie “Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak” Saturday night.

On stage with Udit was his 19-year-old son Aditya who had the young girls swooning. Aditi Paul also performed with the father-son duo and regaled them by crooning songs like “Dewanaa” and “Oh Mere Sonaa Re”.

Many of the fans had decked up in traditional Indian clothes for the occasions.

Indian entertainers are very popular among the more than 500,000 people of Indian origin here. As soon as the dates of shows by Indian performers are announced, the tickets get sold out.

On May 30, Trinidad and Tobago will mark the 163rd anniversary of the arrival of the first batch of Indians from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Over 145,000 Indians were brought here between 1845 and 1917 to work on sugar plantations.